Pot-pourri from a Surrey garden

School-girls— Ignorance of parents — The confidence of children must be gained — The way to do it— Drawbacks of nurseries and school- rooms— Over - education — Show - training — Delicate girls — A woman's vocation — Superficial teaching — Children's tempers — Modern girls — Herbert Spencer and education — J. P. Eichter — Liberty and independence — Serious studies — What young girls should read — Parents and children — Friendships — Girls' allow- ances— Dress — Professions — Strong feelings — Management of house and family — Early rising — Life in society. MUCH that I have said with regard to boys applies to girls too, but I would only recommend sending girls to school in very peculiar and exceptional circumstances. I used to think that, for town girls, the high -schools afforded the best method of education. I now think that the pupils there are worked much too hard. What is really wanted for women is a mental training, the creation of a habit of mind, rather than technical knowledge of any kind. Eemember, such experience as I have of girls is entirely limited to the leisured classes — those who, by an unwritten law, are virtually brought up to amuse themselves first, and to marry afterwards. I know nothing of the wants and requirements of those girls who are aware, from the beginning, that they will actually have to earn their bread and decide on a walk in life, as a boy does. One merit of school is that if the father and mother have neglected the health of their children, as is too frequently the case, from idleness, ignorance, or prejudice, abnormal 3i8 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN bad health is probably revealed by the school-life ; and if a boy cannot do as others do, some one has to discover the reason why. Hundreds of mothers will own how much healthier, for some cause or another, their boys are at school than they were at home. This limelight of criticism — which, I think, is thrown on the facts of the case at school — is, alas ! never turned upon the unfortu- nate schoolroom girl. She is inclined to think that others suffer as much as she does ; or, at any rate, she would far rather endure almost anything in silence than make com- plaints which often cause the mother and the governess to accuse her of being fanciful, idle, or self-indulgent. It is a. problem, never solved through a woman's life, when it is best to disregard her ailments or to attend to them. One of the most startling things I know is the ignorance of parents as to what is going on in the lives and minds of their children. I am thankful to say that in all my long experience I have only known one or two really bad, indifferent, selfish mothers; but even the kindest mothers, and those who devote most time and thought to the welfare of their children, are sometimes quite blind to the discomforts, the sorrows, and even the tragedies that are being endured in silence under their very eyes. I refer rather to the childhood of girls than of boys, for these last are almost always sent to school when quite young, and from that moment their indepen- dence and consequent outspokenness when at home are generally assured. But numbers of women have mentioned to me the troubles of their childhood, which never were suspected by their mothers, and which they themselves never dreamt of revealing till they were quite grown up, sometimes not till they were married and out of the home altogether.